


Water was weak, but Ice was not

by KuraiOfAnagura



Category: Tales of Zestiria
Genre: M/M, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-28
Updated: 2016-01-28
Packaged: 2018-05-16 21:13:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,594
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5841187
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KuraiOfAnagura/pseuds/KuraiOfAnagura
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“’There’s a strange valley, Lady Edna. There’s always a cold coming from it, Lady Edna. Maybe Lady Edna should take a look?’ “, she says in a high pitched voice, obviously mimicking something smaller. “And here I am, the good mountain Seraphim everybody expects me to be and take a look at this ominous valley. Damn those pitifully Normin.” She stops to crouch before the unmoving figure, bringing their heads on the same level.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Water was weak, but Ice was not

Delicate feet in big boots tried to find a footing on the big foundlings scattered across the narrow valley. Like everything else around here it was covered in a thin layer of semitransparent ice. Her breath puffed in front of her in tiny white clouds.

Edna rubbed absently her bare arms and looked above. Somewhere behind the steep stony walls she could make out a tiny spot of grey sky. The river beneath her feet gurgled ominously. No ray of warming sunshine seemed to enter the dell, yet this alone was not a suitable explanation of the unnatural cold, which held her surroundings in an icy grip.

With her umbrella tightly clutched in her bare hand she made her way slowly deeper into the valley, aiming for the spring of the icy river. The way is tight and steep but the granite walls give space to a natural cavern far within the heart of the mountains surrounding it.

The spring is nothing special, a crack in the rocks where the water once rushed through. Now it is a huge slap of ice, frozen and still. The water seeping quietly out of the ice, like blood of a wound. There were small trees and the bigger stones were covered with moss, yet whatever live and green those plants once held was a thing of the past. The cold had killed it all.

“So it is you,” she states in a flat tone, the ice swallowing every echo.

He leans awkwardly with his side against the biggest foundling at the base of the spring, head resting against the ice, halfway enveloped by it, white hair sprawled like veins of snow against his face. It is as if he’d leaned against it in exhaustion, just for a short break, but never stood up again.

“’There’s a strange valley, Lady Edna. There’s always a cold coming from it, Lady Edna. Maybe Lady Edna should take a look?’ “, she says in a high pitched voice, obviously mimicking something smaller. “And here I am, the good mountain Seraphim everybody expects me to be and take a look at this ominous valley. Damn those pitifully Normin.” She stops to crouch before the unmoving figure, bringing their heads on the same level.

“Did you plan to freeze yourself like a toad, until the times of waiting are over?” He wasn’t frozen stiff; this was not something that could happen to seraphim. But being trapped in ice was something that could happen very easily to them. As by now she hadn’t seen any movement in the body in front of her, no breathing and no white puffs of breath, even the wind couldn’t rustle his hair. Edna knew he was not dead as for their bodies dissolved into light upon their times of dying.

Slowly she extended a fine hand to gently brush a strand of hair from his eyes. As soon as her fingers made contact with the ice cold skin she knew what she was onto. His eyes were still the same color, yet now unmoving and cold as soulless gemstones. Tiny flecks of darker shadows crept over the whites of his eyes and lay like spilled blood over his face.

Despite herself, Edna felt an emptiness in her stomach she hoped never to feel again.

Her next words were nothing more than a whisper “do you really think this is what Sorey had wanted for you?”

The name worked like a charm, much more as she had intended. The frozen gaze shifted and caught her eyes. They burned like ice into her heart. Those unhealthy blue lips moved slowly and silent, but the meaning was all too clear to her. “Get out.”

With this the tiny pond soared up, mixed with icy shards and rocks, a tidal wave flushing through the valley. The icy waters enveloped her, thousands of needles picking into her skin. The force of the ice and water rushed here through the very way she just wandered through, sharp rocks biting into her, where she hit the walls. She was unceremonically spit out into the warmth of the afternoon sun. Edna curled into herself shivering violently, desperately trying to get rid of the cold. The water had died down, yet when she faced the nearly hidden entrance she could clearly feel an icy chill.

She rose on unsteady feet, looking down on her blue limbs. The white dress she wore was stained and torn. This was her favorite dress. Being tainted or not, Meebo would pay for this.

 

\--

 

“Eeeeeednaaa!”

“Ugh, you’re obnoxious as ever.” The greeting was the same as ever when she met Lailah again. Even if her words spoke otherwise, Edna was very fond of Lailah. Which was why she endured the tight hug and the bad puns for now. She was much older than herself and in her way Edna had a great deal of respect for Lailah’s own kind of wisdom.

“Lailah, as much as I want to catch up with you, which I don’t, I’m in a hurry to thaw a little toad,” she told her in her impassive tone.

Lailah giggled. Oh dear, her it comes. “Oh my, do you want to croaks it out of his winter sleep?” Edna had to resist the urge to hit herself with her umbrella. Instead she hit the Fire Seraph in front of her. So much for respect and wisdom.

“Lailah, are you with a shepherd right now?” Edna had been happy enough to find her in the ruins which were once Marlind, that she couldn’t get a glimps of Lailah’s possible fellowship yet.

Her pretty head tilted questioningly to the side. “Why, yes, I am. These times a lot more people can see the Seraphim, so I never get bored!” She ended the sentence with a smile, but Edna could read the meaning of ’lonely’ behind her ‘bored’. “Why do you ask? Do you want to join us in our journey? We were about to regroup just now!”

“As if I’d ever do something as ridiculous as becoming your Sublord ever again.”

“Aw, don’t say that! It was fun, wasn’t it?” Before she could say something more the bushes to their right parted and a young man emerged, twigs gathered in his hair and cloak. A Shepherds cloak, Edna noted. The white fabric with the twirling black ornaments was unique for every Shepherd, yet an unmistakingly identifying feature for their kind. Judging by the collection of logs under his arms he’d just came back from gathering fire wood.

“So that’s your Shepherd?” Lailah beamed with a mother’s pride as she gestured him towards her side. Flustered and not quite sure what to do with the new Seraphim he stood awkwardly next to her.

“This is Thari! Thari, this is Edna! Edna here’s an old friend, who obviously became an amphibian cosnsultant!” Thari tried to smile politely over his evident confusion. Edna gave him a look. He wore a farmers garb under his Shepherds cloak, old, but tended with care. Edna could’ve sworn that the staff he used to fight with was once used as the base of a hoe. But she was no one to judge. Well, no one to judge too hard. He took a tiny step backwards under her gaze. At least he was not stupid.

His dark blond and scruffy hair helped to underline the all over disheveled appearance. But his dark brown eyes were gentle and when he smiled at her she felt the warmth surging through her that made every Shepherd special.

“Is he any good?” Not that Edna was anybody to be swayed by the warming smile of a Shepherd. Said one looked as if he finally wanted to say something, her tone clearly rubbing on him.

“He’s the best I could wish for,” Lailah said with another beaming smile. Which means he’s still learning, Edna thought to herself.

“I need to borrow him.” Now Lailah’s smile broke into a confused expression. Sometimes Edna thought if there was anything behind those pretty eyes at all. “I don’t think I understand…”

“Do you trust me?”

“Eh? I uhm… yeah?” This was all Edna needed. She stomped her foot, hard, and a pillar of earth rose underneath the feet of the Shepherd, catapulting him up in the air.

“I will bring him back to you within a week.” And with that her own pillar of stone rose her up into the air. Lailah’s figure was getting smaller with every moment and judging by her comically round mouth she was shouting at her. Not that she could hear her, of course.

 

\--

 

Edna landed on a soft patch of sand, next to the little new Shepherd, who made himself audible with some painful groans.

“Please don’t be so loud,” he said.

“You!” Ah, so the little one could talk after all. “What gives you the right to throw me into the air so suddenly!”

“I do.”

“What!?”

“I give myself the right to throw you into the air so suddenly. If this answers your question.”

“What? No! It doesn’t! Why did you do this? Where is Lailah!?”

“Lailah is still in Marlind. As to answer your second question.”

“And where are we?”

“We are at the foot of the Uriqual Range. I’ve already answered three questions of yours. You’re pretty rude, you know that?”

“Wha-…” taken aback by her revelation, he stumbled on uneven feet, trying to process the sheer amount of space they just traveled.

“Again! What’s the meaning of this!” Ah, now he was getting angry. With another stomp of her foot a small piece of rock fell down and landed way too narrow from Thari, digging itself into the sand. She would feel sore all over by tomorrow if she used her powers more on this extend.

The little scare was enough to shut him up and send him to his bottom again. “First. You will address me as Lady Edna, whenever you talk to me. I am but a mighty earth Seraphim, ruler of one of the most dangerous mountains in all of Glenwood.” She could see him swallow nervously. Good. Maybe Lailah’s goody good shoes behavior hasn’t destroyed everything in him. “Second. I brought you here to earn yourself the glory to assist me in a small purification attempt.”

“What gives you the idea I would help you after all of this?”

“Oh, you will help me. I ‘m sure of it. Because the consequences of not helping me would result into Lailah becoming very very sad.” The surprised glint in his eyes told her that she’d won. Somehow the ever obnoxious fire Seraph made herself always very important to her little Shepherds.

His brows furrowed in confusion. Clearly he was debating on what to do next. He sat up straighter. “Ok, I will help you… Lady Edna… but only if you promise me to tell me everything this is about.” Her impassive glare met his confused determination. A mean smile tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“Everything? Ok, Shepherd, you got yourself a deal.”

 

\--

 

“Everything started with the Eight Serpents.”

“The first eight Serpahim who got tainted and turned into Dragons, right? Traitors to all Serpahim, who are said to rule the Underworld.” Thari was painting hard now. They had started to climb the mountain soon after they formed their temporarily pact and him regaining his footing after the long flight.

“I don’t know about the part of the Underworld, but otherwise you are correct. Though what very few now is the reason the first Seraphim turned into a Dragon. “

“Because he wanted revenge? That’s what’s told in the legend.”

“Seraphim do not reproduce, we do not have parents and children, sometimes we have siblings, but other than that the picture of a family is alien to us. Unlike you humans.” Thari did not know where there came the sudden change of subject, but he’d soon learned not to question it. Like Lailah this Seraph had her very own quirks. “Sometimes though Seraphim have soulmates, companions, lovers you would call it,” she continued in her monotone voice. “It’s not very common, but it happens for two Seraphim to be destined to be one being. Legends tell that the companion of the First Serpent died, resulting him to become a Dragon thanks to the three big L.”

“The three big L?”

“Loss, Longing, Loneliness”. A little pause stretched over them.

“I’m now telling you something that you’ll never hear from Lailah.”

Tahri made questioning sound.

“I’m going to tell you something about one of the previous Shepherds. You may have noticed that Lailah gets kinda-“

“-nuts when I ask her about it? Yeah, I figured.”

“Nuts is a very precise word for all of her behavior, but particular of this, yes.” She started to like the little one more and more. “It’s because of her oath, she literally can’t talk about it. Which makes it both funny and sad.

You want to know what this is all about, so I have to tell you about the Shepherd of the Age of Chaos, some 200 years from now. He had formed a contract with Lailah and I acted as her Sublord at that time. We fought a big source of Malevolence, which forced our Shephard to accomplish all four trials to become a full-fledged Shepherd. Even if it was a hard and long journey it was… fun… “ Again she grew silent for some time. Thari said nothing, not wanting to disturb her.

“The Shepherd had a very high level of resonance since he grew up in Elysia. Remember what I told you about that soulmates schmock? What I never heard of was a connection between a Seraphim and a human, but as soon as I saw the Shepherd and his Lord of Water together it was clear as day that those two were connected. Nobody in our company every talked about it, because it was this obvious. They were so sweet together I still get caries when I just think about it.”

“Are you talking about Shepherd Sorey?” At this she actually turned and looked at his flushed face. For a short moment he saw her vulnerable before her passive mask took over again. “His name appears in some stories… I haven’t dared to ask Lailah about him… guess it was the right thing.”

“Certainly,” she said and opened her parasol as turned around.

“After Sorey left us we had our hands full. A whole continent had to be cleansed and we had already a new Shepherd to bully us around. All fun and stuff. But as soon as our last human connection passed away, Mikleo vanished. It’s not as if he was suddenly away. We parted ways and everybody thought he would go back to Elysia. Which he did. The Guardian Seraph has told me so. But not soon after he left again and nobody has ever seen him again.”

“Water is easily corrupted by the Taint. I don’t know when it has happened. I was careless. I thought that after the first few decades the danger would decrease. How stupid! I of all people should’ve known it and kept an eye on him. Stupid Meebo! Water is easy, but ice is not. Which is probably why he froze himself away. He can’t heal himself, but he also can’t break his promise to Sorey either. Stupid, stupid Meebo!” Thari could tell that she was now more or less talking to herself, judging by how hard she clutched the Normin dangling from her parasol  
  
So they were here to purify one of the previous Lords of Water? When he thought about the Shepherds of old and his Seraphim Lords he always had the picture of a tall and powerful figure in mind. He himself had formed the pact with Lailah only some months ago and still felt a slight surge of panic in his chest whenever the thought about the burden of his quest. This mighty Seraphim, as small as she may look like, could throw him literally over half of the continent. How powerfull must the other Lords be?

 

\--

 

They reached a little platoon, high above the clouds the sun still shone warm on them. Edna had become very still. She didn’t turn to him as she spoke, but hid behind her umbrella.

“Whatever you may see there, please do not hold it against him. He may be tainted, but he is still far from becoming a Dragon. Whatever he may think for himself. He is actually really gentle and caring. Please don’t forget if you kill him accidentally, I will kill you myself. Shepherd or not.”

Thari swallowed hard. This was no empty promise and he knew it.

“I will try my best, Lady Edna, and do everything within my power to cleanse your friend from his taint.”

“He’s not my- whatever. I hope your clothes are warm.”

 

\--

His clothes were not warm. As soon as he entered the passage he started to shiver uncontrollably, his lips and fingers soon turning blue.

“Is it much farther?” he asked, echo bouncing strangely hollow from the ice.

Edna shushed him into silence. Whatever her last visit might have triggered, the cold had intensified. At the base of the spring sat now a dragon and greeted them with a malicious snarl.

“I thought you said he’s far from becoming a dragon? I’ve never seen one, but that looks mighty like a dragon!”

“Haven’t I told you to be quiet? This is no real dragon, just a manifestation out of ice, controlled and moved by his artes.”

“Looks real enough for me!”

“Ugh, you’re as obnoxious as your Prime Lord! Believe me, I know what a dragon looks like. Are you ready?”

“Yes!”

 _Maybe he already lost his senses_ , Edna thought. _And barely acts on instinct by now_.

The creature in front of them bared its sharp teeth, crystal body glittering and glimmering in the light of Thari’s Flames of Purification. The only blessing he’d received so far. The dragon-shaped ice monster growled and the deep tune of moving glaciers filled Edna’s senses. With a fast stumble they could evade piercing pillars which had erupted from all around them.

“ _Hephsin Yulin_!”

This temporary pact was a tricky thing. It would probably only work for some minutes and only once. The divine artefact of earth, a small ornamental pickaxe Edna had found some decades ago, would most likely break afterwards due to the strain of passing over the prime lord’s word. But it was all they had and Edna would make it count.

The Armatus came with a bittersweet nostalgic feeling for Edna. For Thari, who’d never armatized with anybody beside the gentle and kind Lailah, her ego came as a shock. Their shared body stumbled, the golden glowing battle axe nearly tripping from his fingers.

_Carefull, don’t rush._

“Yeah, sorry… it’s just so different.”

_Let me be the guide, just put all your strength into our attacks._

The axe seemed somewhat more familiar for the farmer’s boy and he swung it with great vigor, providing the strength behind the slashes whereas Edna guided the body in its movements. The shimmering blade worked its way deep into the frozen body of the beast, bits and chunks of ice splintered with every swing Thari took.  
A frozen spear found its way into his right shoulder, but battle lust and Edna’s artes prevented him from slowing down.

And then, just bevor they could pull the final blow on the by now weak and exposed neck of the dragon, the Armatus broke.

Thari was left utterly surprised, suddenly empty and alone in his body with nothing more than an ornamental pickaxe in hand. A mere toothpick in comparison to what he wielded before.  
Edna used the momentum of the separation to jump over the icen monster, using both Thari as well as the dragon as a step stone for her leap behind the fighting parties.  
The Shepherd couldn’t see what had happened. But he did hear the sound of a fist colliding with a jaw, splintering ice and a small yelp of pain. Before the huge amount of ice crashed on top of him he clearly saw a humanoid figure clad in blue, sent flying by Edna’s punch.

 

\--

 

“Idiot Meebo. Meebiot. “

The boy lying before her on the ground got slowly to his knees. As if still in sleep he sluggishly looked up. The Taint had sprawled over the entire right side of his face, probably originating from somewhere down his neck.

“Say, Shepherd, are you still alive?”

When the flow of mana had stopped the beast had become nothing but a statue. With audible struggle Thari hacked himself out of the bowels of the late monster, already drenched in ice cold water. Flustered and heavily panting he came on Edna’s side.

“A little help would’ve been nice,” he said, but knew it was a futile attempt.

The Seraph in front of them still hadn’t said a word, judging by the empty look in his eyes his mind was still elsewhere. Thari took a good look, now that he could finally see the caster of the artes that had created the ice dragon. The skin was painfully pale, his lips contrasted starkly with their unhealthy blue shade. The white hair barely reached his shoulders, the light blue tips grazing over the now dirty fabric of his tunic.

“Don’t ramble.”

Thari just huffed. The cold was beginning to numb his toes and fingers.

“Well then, Shepherd, cast your mumbo jumbo and purify him.”

“Oh, yeah, right!”

He had never purified anything or anybody without Lailah’s help, naturally he made sure to call the Flames of Purification slowly and controlled. As soon as they touched the ghostly white skin though, the sprawled shadows of the Taint vaporized into fine ashen dust, leaving behind not even a trace.

The Seraph inhaled sharply and deep, the light suddenly returning to his eyes as the lost look on his face made place to bewilderment. Confused he lifted a hand to his face but halted mere centimeters before the skin as if in fear of being burned. Big round tears started to pool in his eyes, making their way down his cheeks in glittering twin bands. It was as if a dam was broken, for the lithe body was suddenly shook with gasps and spasms. The Seraph buried his head in the dirt in front of him, shoulders shaking as he cried his pain into the ground.

“Stupid Meebo,” Edna said as she crouched on his level. She hit his head several times with her folded parasol, creating a little rhythm with its tapping noises. But in there was a comforting gentleness in her actions that Thari made a step backwards to give the two friends their space.

“You miss him so hard, you rather freeze your heart and not feel anything anymore as to feel this emptiness.”

The trembling in the other intensified.

“So it took you nearly 200 years to finally break. Not bad. I give you 9 of 10 points for that. Minus a thousand points for your stupidity. Don’t you have a promise to keep?”

Thari didn’t know how long he listened to the anguished sobs of the water Seraph and Edna’s murmured insults, her very own way of consoling him. As the light was dimming dangerously he dared to interrupt the pair.

“I’m very sorry, but we should at least make it out of the glen, it’s getting dark. And we can’t make a fire in here, everything’s practically drenched.

The way out was a lot easier than the way in. With the water Seraph’s domain broken, Edna could cast her artes and shaped the valley to her liking. Thari had to carry the young man for his muscles were still too weak to support him after those years in frozen slumber. Like all Seraphim he was pretty light to begin with, so Thari didn’t mind.

They reached the little plateau outside together with the last rays of sunlight. Hastily Thari gathered what little wood he could find and started a fire. The Seraphim were silent now, Edna staring at the water Seraph, who stared into his lap. The sobs had finally eased, but the tears were still silently flowing.

“What happened?”

Thari saw him cringing slightly at Edna’s sharp tone and they both knew there was no escape from that answer. He inhaled deeply as to steel himself.

“I … was careless…” The voice was thin and weak, rough at the edges of not being used for such a long time.

“Tell me something new.”

“When I wanted to… explore some ruins… I’ve stumbled into Lunarre.”

“So that fox guy is still alive, huh? Figured. “

“Naturally we fought… I managed to cast him away… but he spilled some of his miasma on me… leaving me… tainted…”

“And instead of asking Lailah for help, which would’ve been the most obvious action, you holed yourself up here?”

The other nodded.

“Back then I thought it was the only possible way to keep my promise,” by now the voice was a mere whisper.

“I’m not buying it. There has to be something more. A little hellion blood couldn’t do this to you. You must’ve been already halfway fallen due to your negative emotions of missing Sorey so much.”

Thari blinked in surprise as the other flinched violently as if Edna had slapped him. In some way she had, as she took his reaction and silence as a confession if guilt. For a long time the fire was the only source of sound. This far up in the mountains lived very few critters and even less around here with the blighted domain nearby.

“I hope you realis this only happened because you were not talking to anybody?” The water Seraph merely shrugged his face and eyes hidden by his bangs. Edna’s next words were a hissed whisper.

“If you and Sorey hadn’t come to Rayfalke back then and made me Lailah’s sub lord it wouldn’t have taken long and two dragons would’ve roared in that mountains. Believe me, I know what I am talking about.”

Slowly he lifted his gaze and looked her into the eyes for a long time until he finally craked a little smile. The corner of Edna’s right lip curved ominously upwards, which may or may not be misinterpreted as a smile.

“You are the Shepherd. I have to thank you. Without you I would succumb to the taint and become a dragon.” For the first time that day the water Seraph addressed him directly. Thari noted those brilliant violet eyes and thought how pretty he looked when he smiled.

“My name is Mikleo and I’m sure Edna has already told you all about my negative habits. Thank you, Shepherd. “ At this he bowed his head towards him.

“This is Thari, he’s a Shepherd-in-the-making and Lailah had already started topsoil him, so I wouldn’t think too highly of him. And obviously I’ve only told him the truth.”

“Please, Lord Mikleo, if I could help you I’m truly happy! I must admit, I never had such a hard fight before. You are truly strong!”

“Not as strong as you think.”

“But still! When I think about all those Hellions laying ahead of me… and you weren’t even a Hellion…” He laughed sheepishly, but Mikleo only greeted him with a gentle smile.

“Don’t worry, I’m sure you’ll grow into it. From what I can see, you have everything with you to become a great Shepherd.”

**Author's Note:**

> I'm very sorry for stressing so much of Zestiria's methods/mythology on terms of this Temporary Pact thingy. I know it's not really possible or else Dezel would've tried it (or maybe not? Who knows, after all he's never heard of the Armatus before?).  
> Also I'm pretty sure this is not how Taint or anything else works, but I did like the picture.
> 
> For me this functions as some sort of breaking point for Mikleo, wheras afterwards he can properly heal and grow stronger. Stupid Meebo indeed, not talking to the other's and holing up his double loss.
> 
> Also I did enjoy writing Thari. With the continent slowly healing I can imagine more and more people might pose as Shepherds on the Sacred Blade festival?
> 
> Edit: I edited the formatting a bit, it shoudl be easier to read


End file.
